Ph.D. Degree Guidelines

Transcription

1 Ph.D. Degree Guidelines PH.D. DEGREES OPTIONS The SoC offers two Ph.D. degrees, one in Computer Science, and one in Computing. There are currently a Robotics track, a Graphics and Visualization track, and a Scientific Computing track, Computer Engineering track and Data Management and Analysis track available in Computing. Courses that count toward graduation for the Computer Science degree must be on the program of study. The following restrictions apply to these courses: CS courses must have a course number of 6000 or above, or must be CS 6460 (Operating Systems) or CS 5470 (Compiler Principles and Techniques) non-cs courses must have a course number of 5000 or above; they must have a grade of B- or better; the GPA for all these courses must be at least 3.0. For required courses, this additional restriction applies: the GPA for all these classes must be at least 3.5. RESIDENCY At least one year (i.e., two consecutive semesters) of the doctoral program must be spent in full-time academic work at the University of Utah. When a student proceeds directly from an M.S. degree to a Ph.D. degree with no break in the program of study (except for authorized leaves of absence), the residency requirement may be fulfilled at any time during the course of study. CREDIT FOR PREVIOUS COURSES PhD students may count some hours of coursework from other graduate degrees toward the coursework requirements associated with the program of study. Unlike for the MS programs, credit for previous courses for PhD students is administered by the DGS so these courses do not need to be be officially transferred to the University. Approved courses are certified by inclusion of the appropriate SoC form in the student s file. All coursework on the program of of study is subject to approval by the student s supervisory committee and the DGS. 28 Ph.D. students with a masters-level degree in a closely related discipline should work with their initial committee to create a program of study that can include graduate courses taken as part of their previous degree program. This program of study can include up to twenty total hours to be counted toward their Ph.D. requirements, and

2 Ph.D. Degree Guidelines can be used to satisfy some or all of the Ph.D. required courses. Like all programs of study, it must then be approved by the DGS and the graduate school. A student who has been accepted by the Graduate School is formally admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. by the University at the recommendation of the student s supervisory committee. Admission to candidacy occurs after the student: forms a supervisory committee, files an approved Program of Study form, completes the core course requirements, passes the written portion of the qualifying examination, and passes the oral portion of the qualifying examination An application for candidacy must be submitted to the Graduate School no later than two months prior to the semester of graduation. For the degree to be conferred, the approved Program of Study form must be completed and the dissertation completed and publicly defended. A Ph.D. Supervisory Committee conducts the student s written qualifying examination, oral qualifying examination, and dissertation. This committee consists of five faculty members, at least three of whom must be from the SoC, and at least one member from outside the SoC. Any SoC regular faculty member may serve as a supervisory committee chair. Research or adjunct faculty may chair supervisory committees if accorded that privilege by the regular faculty. Individuals who are not faculty members may serve on supervisory committees if nominated by the regular faculty on the committee, and endorsed by the Graduate Studies Committee and School Director. For Computing degrees, further restrictions on committee makeup may apply. All official decisions of the committee are decided by majority vote. QUALIFYING EXAMINATION All Ph.D. students must pass a Qualifying Examination, as specified by the Graduate School. The Qualifying Exam consists of a written part, to be conducted first, and an oral part. The written part of the Qualifying Examination will cover the candidate s general area of specialization in sufficient depth to demonstrate their preparation for conducting Ph.D.-level research. Each internal member of the student s supervisory 29

3 Ph.D. Degrees committee will contribute one or more questions to this exam. The external member(s) of the committee can provide question(s) if they wish to. The supervisory committee will provide a written evaluation of this part of the exam, including an indication of whether or not the student will be allowed to proceed to the oral part of the Qualifying Examination. More details on the procedures for the written part is available on the GSC web page. The oral part comprises the dissertation proposal. At the supervisory committee s option, it may also include follow-up questions relating to the written part of the exam. A majority of the supervisory committee should certify that the proposal is ready to be defended prior to conducting the oral part of the Qualifying Exam. DISSERTATION The completed dissertation must be published either in its entirety (through a legitimate publisher of the student s choice or through University Microfilms) or as one or more articles accepted for publication in approved scholarly journals. An abstract of each dissertation must be published in University Microfilms Dissertation Abstracts International. STUDENT PROGRESS: TERMINOLOGY Initial committee: This consists of two University of Utah faculty members and an advisor, who must meet the School of Computing requirements for advising. The initial committee is dierent from the full committee, who will ultimately administer the qualier and evaluate the dissertation. The full committee must be chosen to conform to program requirements. The initial committee is automatically dissolved when the student forms a full committee. Good vs acceptable progress: Students completing milestones within the time frame denoted as good are generally considered to be in good standing in the program. Students completing milestones within the time frame denoted as acceptable are considered to be making acceptable progress in the program and are encouraged to continue on and attempt to meet successive milestones within the time frames denoted as good. 30 Such students may or may not be considered in good standing, depending upon evaluation of the director of graduate studies (DGS) with input from their advisor and advisory committee. Students not completing milestones within the time frame denoted as acceptable are not considered in good standing.

4 Ph.D. Degrees GRADUATE STUDENT PROGRESS GUIDELINES FOR THE PH.D. PROGRAM Milestone Good Progress Acceptable Progress Comments Choose advisor and initial committee 2 Semesters 2 Semesters Program of study approved by advisor and initial committee 2 Semesters 3 Semesters Complete required courses 3 Semesters 5 Semesters Program requirement: 5 semesters Full committee formed 4 Semesters 5 Semesters Program of study approved by committee Written qualifier 4 Semesters 5 Semesters 5 Semesters 6 Semesters U. requirement: 1 U. requirement: 1 Oral qualifier (proposal) Dissertation 5 Semesters 7 Semesters 9 Semesters 12 Semesters U. requirement: After written qualifier and 1 Final document U. requirement: 1 31

5 Master s and Ph.D. Defense Action Date Recommendations Thesis or dissertation proposal presented and passed Prior to date Possible date selected by committee 4 weeks prior to Draft of dissertation or thesis sent to chair 4 weeks prior to Draft to committee 3 weeks prior to Message requesting approval of sent to committee by Graduate Coordinator 2 weeks prior to Oral question and answer period after oral presentation Day of Document to Graduate Coordinator 10 days prior to Abstract to Graduate Coordinator 10 days prior to Posted on Web 10 days prior to Meeting of committee to discuss issues and make recommendations Day of Signed final oral presentation document to Graduate Coordinator Within days of Thesis editor approval 3 months post 15

6 Ph.D. in Computing: Graphics & Visualization COURSE REQUIREMENTS: PH.D. IN COMPUTING, GRAPHICS AND VISUALIZATION TRACK Students must choose at least three of these four specific courses: CS 6610 CS 6630 CS 6670 CS 6640 Advanced Computer Graphics I Scientific Visualization Computer Aided Geometric Design Image Processing Course work listed on the approved Program of Study form must comprise at least 50 semester hours of graduate course work and dissertation research, exclusive of independent study. Graduate course work applied toward an M.S. degree may be included. At least 14 semester hours of dissertation research (CS 7970) and 30 semester hours of graduate course work must be included. Up to 12 hours of graduate level course work already applied to other degrees may be used in the program of study. Required Courses: PhD students must demonstrate core knowledge in computer graphics and visualization by passing three courses from a choice of four, prior to the start of their fifth semester of study, with grades of B or better in each course and an overall GPA in the specified courses greater than 3.5. Students may place out of this requirement by substituting or transferring courses from other institutions. Substitute courses must be regular classes with exams and/or assignments, not seminar, readings, or independent study classes. 36 Satisfactorily completing the three courses as described constitutes completion of the Comprehensive exam; this must be completed by the the end of the fourth semester.

7 Ph.D. in Computing: Graphics & Visualization ELECTIVE COURSES School of Computing Computer Science courses on the Program of Study must be at the 6000 level or above, excluding independent study, and research credits. Of the required 30 semester hours, up to nine credit hours may be graduate courses outside of the School of Computing. Admissible elective courses within the School of Computing are the following: CS 6620 CS 6310 CS 6360 CS 6210 CS 6220 CS 6960 CS 6540 CS 6630 CS 7320 CS 7650 CS 6680 CS 7310 CS 7961 Advanced Computer Graphics II Introduction to Robotics Virtual Reality Advanced Scientific Computing I Advanced Scientific Computing II Computational Geometry Human/ Computer Interaction Scientific Visualization Computer Vision Realistic Image Synthesis Computer-Aided Geometric Design II Advanced Robotics Vision Science Courses not on the list above must be approved by the student s committee to count toward the elective requirements. Independent study (CS 6950 and CS 7950) can not be included in the Program of Study for the PhD degree. 37